Hey, Patrons!
We just wanted to check in with you to let you know our plans for versions 0.4.0 and 0.5.0.
One of our guiding principles in writing and designing this game is the player’s freedom of choice. As of version 0.3.x, IHOH has several different paths that Becca can explore (or choose not to explore). These paths generally operate independently, so every player may not encounter them in the same order, at the same time, or maybe even at all, depending on the player’s preferences.
So far, each of these paths not only operates and functions independently, it is almost as if they exist in separate worlds, as if Becca lived a different “life” for each of these different events. This doesn’t make sense to us. Becca is one girl, living just one life. Our initial goal for these first few updates has been to populate the game with a significant amount of content. This is not our only goal, however.
Now that we have so much content—several weeks, if not months, of Becca’s life, if she travels down every path—we feel that it is time to make sure that these different paths are all incorporated into a single life. For example, if Becca and Abby are best friends, would Becca’s experience at the Halloween party be different? How about if Becca has a secret relationship with Shaun or Bobby?
For version 0.4.0, we would like to spend most of the development time evaluating and incorporating small changes that would reflect the co-existence of these different events in Becca’s life. This also includes making sure that no two events in different paths are scheduled for the same night… we don’t want any of the events to become unavailable by circumstance.
We will also add a few small events and activities that we have been meaning to add into the game for a few months but have not yet had time. These are generally unconnected to any specific paths, but should be fun and add to the overall immersion of the game.
Finally, we have a few other miscellaneous items of clean-up that we want to work on. We are not aware of any bugs that need to be fixed (yet!), but this would include fixing any bugs or coding errors. It would also include proofreading for any spelling or grammar errors that we may have missed, double-checking the balance of the statistics, updating/upgrading some images or videos for better ones, etc. As always, please let us know if you encounter any errors or bugs in a direct message here on Patreon or by emailing bugs@surprisedelightme.com.
Generally, it seems to take us an average of 6 weeks or so to complete a full update with new content. Because version 0.4.0 as planned would not require a lot of new content and media to be produced, we expect that this update would be finished in a shorter period of time—possibly as soon as the end of October or first week of November.
We don’t want to reveal too much about our 0.5.0 plans, but we will be adding to a couple of the current paths. We also plan to re-introduce some things from Becca’s past. She wasn’t born yesterday, after all!
The writing and coding of version 0.5.0 will likely take about the average amount of time, so it should be anticipated for a release around mid-December. This likely means that we will include seasonal content for Christmas and New Year’s, the same way we did for Halloween, in addition to the other general content (assuming we can get it all done on schedule).
What do you all think?
Surprise & Delight
